


Food

by UsagiToxic



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Canon - Japanese, Canon Het Relationship, Curtain Fic, Don’t copy to another site, Drabble, Drabble Collection, Established Relationship, F/M, Female Friendship, Fluff, Food, Friendship, Gen, Japan, Japanese Character(s), Japanese Culture, Not Beta Read, Romance, Slice of Life, Translation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-10 03:14:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20521028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UsagiToxic/pseuds/UsagiToxic
Summary: Drabbles about Sailor Soldiers and their favorite food.





	1. Mamoru/Usagi

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Еда](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3962626) by [UsagiToxic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/UsagiToxic/pseuds/UsagiToxic). 

> This is one of my beloved pet projects, so its translation has been long overdue, in fact. I hope you like it, because without feedback I'll most likely abandon this TL.
> 
> Also my auto-translations are not the most... refined thing in the world and I have no English beta, so any comments about grammar are welcome.

Usagi jumps around Mamoru like a little bird, bubbling with happy laughter. She is happy that they are strolling together and nobody interrupts them: no villains, no little girls falling down on them, no... she is ashamed to think of that, but her friends do not interrupt them as well. And they could. They have a nasty habit of peeking behind the shrubs just for her own sake.

"You want some ice cream?" Mamoru asks, noticing a selling point with said sweet treat. He remembers the favorite "dish" of his bride. No wonder, because he loves her!

He is also a huge nerd. But even despite his neediness there is one very important thing which he doesn't know.

Which flavor of ice cream Usako likes the most? There are so many of them around the world: from classic vanilla to banana-pistachio cocktail 'Ice Cherry'. There is no guessing that.

When they stand in the line, Usagi impatiently shifts her feet from toes to heels and back. It's a pleasant warm day of late spring, when everyone are strolling, and ice cream is a great way to make your day even better.

"What ice cream do you want?" Usagi asks with curiosity in her voice and no unnecessary prelude.

Too bad that Mamo-chan cannot afford himself to ask the same question. Or else Usako could take offense. Girls sure are weird...

"I do not want any," Mamoru shakes his head in denial. It's just not proper to eat ice cream in public for him, an adult man.

Usagi grudgingly puffs her cheeks, and, grabbing Mamoru's sleeve, applies a massive brainstorm attack:

"But it's taaasty, Mamo-chan! Why don't you want it...?"

She guesses that her fiance thinks that he is terribly mature, and she is... not so much. That's why she may eat ice cream in public, but for him it's not proper. But Usagi doesn't understand this logic. Guys sure are weird...

Usagi's whining surprisingly doesn't last long, maybe she has become more tolerant to men's caprices? Who knows, but a fact is a fact.

Mamoru waits for their turn in line as if it will be a moment of an absolute truth, and in some sense it will be the one! Usagi herself will say her wish, because it's only logical for a girl to choose her favorite ice cream flavor?

When they approach the stall, Usagi leans forward and attentively studies her options, cupping her chin with fingers to seem more important. Mamoru is both amused and anxious - what, what is she going to say?

"Chocolate, please!" Usagi exclaims.

When they walk under the shades of trees to cool down, Usagi's face is already dirty with ice cream; Mamoru just sighs, looking for a handkerchief in his pocket.

_"She is like a child..."_

Usagi blushes when Mamoru approaches dangerously close to wipe the sweet treat from her face. Well, he did give his handkerchief to her own hands at first, but Usagi only managed to get her face dirtier...

"Mamo-chan, I didn't finish my ice cream yet. I'll get dirty again..."

"Then we will wipe your face again. For the first time, second, third... maybe after the fifth time you will eat a lot more neatly," Mamoru smiles.

Usagi thinks about taking insult of that. But she decides that this is caring, and not an attempt to teach her proper etiquette at a young age, so she just laughs.

"Do you want some, Mamo-chan...?" she gets the ice cream cone closer to him.

"No, Usako, thank you..."

"Just a little but, you'll see it's tasty!"

Yeah, it is most likely tasty. It's cold. It's sweet. No, it's not proper to eat like that. But... but it is...

"It's unhygienic!" Mamoru exclaims.

Usagi looks at him with both reproach and pleading in her eyes. The result is a look of an angry puppy, and Mamoru feels guilty for some reason. Just a little.

Besides, Usagi precariously licked only one side of the ice cream.

He tastes it.

As a result, the ice cream was eaten, and then another two portions were bought. And so Mamoru too got his chance to fully enjoy a tasty treat, and to relax and not to think about being an adult.

"But why Usako chose exactly this flavor? Is it actually her favorite, or..."

Usagi just knew very well how much Mamoru liked chocolate.


	2. Rei

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rei's favorite food is fugu (pufferfish), an extremely poisonous dish which results in deaths of couple of dozens Japanese people every year. Mostly because of reckless eating in suspicious places and consuming of the most poisonous part of the fish: its liver.

She finally had enough money. She saved up pocket money, donations, odd jobs payments... she had enough just in time for the festives, and she would reward herself for her patience. It's just the girls shouldn't know, they just shouldn't... or else everything will be ruined.

Of course they learned about it. At first only Usagi did, somehow (grandpa definitely couldn't keep his mouth closed!), and immediately rushed to Rei in person, starting crying on her nerves.

Rei hated when Usagi cried. First, it annoyed her, and second, it made her feel helpless. And at this moment she also felt guilty.

"You will die, Rei-chan!!!"

Great optimistic forecasting. No other options exist.

"All of us will die." she counters harshly, crossing her hands, and Usagi cries even stronger.

"But you will die now, Rei-chan!!!"

Great logic here, Usagi.

"Stop wailing!" Rei exclaims angrily, hitting a table with her fist. "I perfectly understand what I am doing, everything will be okay!"

"But it's dangerous...!"

"I know what's dangerous and what isn't! It isn't my first time eating it!"

"But you see, Rei-chan, you can't put yourself at this much ri-i-i-isk...!!"

"Cut it out!"

Their argument is getting nowhere. Usagi refuses to listen; she is in panic over her friend's destiny and life.

Of course she cries to the other girls as well, and on the next day Hikawa shrine's congregation is being scared away by four loud girls on the doorstep:

"Rei-chan, it's unwise!"

"It is dangerous! Do you know how many stars died because of it?!"

"It takes only one mistake by a cook!"

"Don't, Rei-chan!"

Rei tries to ignore their attacks by hiding behind the wooden door and putting her hands over ears. She grits her teeth: what do they understand in life and cuisine at all?

It wouldn't be her first time eating fugu. When her grandpa was younger and had a better eyesight, he used to cook it after his trips to the shore. Mom was alive back then and they had really risky family dinners. How her grandpa used to boast that only a blind, deaf, and mute moron cannot cook fugu correctly! And how eagerly he told them stories about everyone eating fugu when he was young, and nobody died, and nobody monitored a thing...

Now he only laughes that he is nearly blind and his memory is not what it used to be. Then he closes his eyes and pretends to be also deaf, mute, and a moron. Not for too long, but he still refuses to cook fugu.

Her reminiscence is muted by girls' voices. Ami tells her statistic figures about exact amount of toxins in the fish. Makoto and Usagi chaotically worry and similarly chaotically try to turn her away from her idea. Minako still tries to remember famous people who got poisoned god-knows-when.

"Get off me!" annoyed, Rei cries behind the wooden door. "I know what I am doing! Some friends you are, cannot even trust me! I won't eat the liver anyway!"

...because she doesn't have enough money for that.

But girls are not convinced.

"We care about you!" they exclaim as a choir.

It's useless to argue with them. Rei growls grumpily and walks away into the shrine, leaving girls to scream into the void.

Everything was calm on next day. Nobody scared away the congregation, nobody called the phone. Even the mailbox lacked any preaching letters.

"_Could they understand me?_" Rei thought, furrowing her brows in suspicion. It was not like them, so she had no happy reaction. "_I guess they got upset with me. Oh well. They will forget about it when they see that I am alive and well._"

And she returns to tending the shrine.

During evening, when the sun has already set, Makoto appeared on her doorstep. This time Rei opened the door and even let out a sigh of relief — of course, how could she doubt them?

"What, you want to change my mind again?" she asks with a smirk.

"No." Makoto coldly replies and gives Rei a rolled sheet of paper.

She unfolds it and perplexedly frowns, holding the sheet in her hands.

There is an Earth map on this sheet of paper.

"What's this?" Rei asks. She already decided that this clearly was some attempt in mockery.

"This is planet Earth." Makoto's tone isn't any warmer when she nods towards the map. "It has I-dunno-how many billions of people. And all of them have their hope in us."

She turns away and wants to leave — Makoto thinks that she has said enough. But she doesn't manage to.

"We can die at any moment. In any fight." Rei says, lowering the map.

"We cannot afford to die earlier than it's necessary." Makoto replies.

Then silence follows, disturbed only by flapping of local birds' wings.

As if both of them talk to each other without words, until Rei sighs and crosses her hands:

"But when I'll be withering away on my deathbed, you, Makoto, are going to be the one who cooks my last meal of fugu."

"Deal." Makoto warms up and smiles, turning back to Rei.

The light of a street lamp falls on them.

"Come in." Rei smiles back and steps aside. "Let's have a dinner together. Grandpa fried fish and vegetables."

Makoto raises her brow, but quickly tosses thoughts about poisonous fish away.

"It's salmon." Rei sniggers, as if she has read Makoto's thoughts.

"Thank you for invitation. I'll be happy to eat with you." Makoto even bows.

And the wooden door closes again, hiding two girls behind.


	3. Makoto

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School year in Japan begins in April, when sakura blossoms.

Tokyo cherry doesn't give fruit.

Makoto always was saddened by this. She wanted to collect some "natural" cherries, or maybe grow something by herself, but it was impossible to plant a cherry tree at home. Bonsai trees? — not with her schedule. Flowers were better.

She was deep in thoughts while rummaging through packages of frozen cherries. Is it really true that if you have grown or picked something by yourself, it changes the resulting taste?

"_My grandpa caught this fish by himself and it tasted way better than in any restaurant._"

"_I harvested this rice by myself and that's why I could say I put my soul into it._"

"_Homegrown apples are the most tasty._"

She has read somewhere that it's your effort which makes food tasty. Does she make an effort when she cooks? Of course. Do those who earn money to buy their rice make an effort? Sure thing.

She isn't rich. She has no garden... she is lucky enough to live in her own apartment instead of a government orphanage.

"It's silly," she says, annoyed, throwing frozen cherries back into plastic bag.

When Makoto is sad, she cooks. When Makoto is stressed, she cooks. Makoto is happy, she cooks. In hysterics she cooks. In doubt she cooks. She always cooks.

But now she sits in her empty kitchen, having forgotten to turn lights on, and glares at her gas stove.

It's too quiet here. Too empty.

Sakura watching doesn't make her happy this year. It's the last time when she celebrates it wearing neatly ironed clean school uniform while listening to her classmates' laugh and other students' squeaking. Of course she will hear it again not just once or twice, but she won't be able to participate...

But she doesn't want to participate even now. Even to her friends she smiles just barely enough to show that nobody will be devoured in rage.

She goes home and petals fall onto her head, enveloping her in pink color.

"Dead tree," she says to nobody in particular.

Tokyo cherry doesn't give fruit.

She cannot make anything out of petals, except for tea. Makoto collects fallen petals, but the tea turns out to be disgusting and it mercilessly gets poured away into drain.

You can't make food out of something dead... but don't we require something dead to cook?

"_We kill to live_."

Makoto doesn't doubt the ethics. She has cut meat and cleaned fish — she doesn't doubt that she could maintain a farm and use whatever it gives.

But even meat was once alive. It isn't much different from natural "once alive" fruits.

But sakura?

Sakura is dead by its nature.

Fruitless.

Makoto swirls a stray runaway petal in her fingers.

"Once upon a time when gods lived in peace and harmony in their clear palaces, spring came to Earth..." she closes her eyes.

She recalls stories and urban legends about crazy artists who kill their models; about crazy perfumer who collected virgins' sweat; about crazy poets who are ready to do anything for their Muse...

And she just wants some cherry.

She has a dream in her sleep. Her dream is full of sakura and suffocating pink aroma of unreachable cherries. The dead dance around her, beat in drums and praise future harvest...

The next day she is at Usagi's home, gloomy because of lack of sleep, and she drinks tea with no sugar or milk. For some reason they came to study to Tsukino's house today. But not together. She was really late, and when she arrived, the girls were rustling among themselves, whispering... they went somewhere together, they came back together...

"Mako-chan..."

Usagi's quiet voice makes Makoto pay attention to her. And then she puts her teacup back on the table in surprise.

There is a pie in front of her. It's uneven, it's a bit burnt, but it smells deliciously and it's warm... her friends stand around her and it feels as if all four of them hold the tray with this pie on it.

"You wanted to make a pie to celebrate the beginning of school year, but... you were so tired lately and that's why we decided to cook it for you by ourselves!"

Makoto cuts it and takes a piece. It's a cherry pie...!

And she almost starts to cry.

Because this is the most tasty cherry pie in the world.


End file.
